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Joe Marler explains the 'personal reasons' behind his England withdrawal
By Ian Cameron
England loosehead Joe Marler has taken to Twitter to explain the 'personal reasons' behind why he's withdrawing from the Eddie Jones' Guinness Six Nations squad.
England revealed that Joe Launchbury and Marler have both been withdrawn from the squad, the former with a broken leg. However England listed Marler as being withdrawn for 'personal reasons'.
Marler was quick to address speculation as to why he has once again removed himself from international duty, taking to Twitter minutes after the news broke.
"Always grateful for the opportunity so not an easy decision, but want to do right by my family in these crazy times and won’t be meeting up with the squad for this tournament," wrote Marler.
"Look forward to watching the team rip in. Go well"
Harlequins have confirmed that he will be available for the club during the period: "Following confirmation today that Marler has withdrawn from England's 2021 Guinness Six Nations squad for personal reasons, the club can confirm that the England and British and Irish Lions star will be available for selection for Harlequins' Round 7 Gallagher Premiership fixture away to Wasps at the Ricoh Arena."
This isn't the first time the prop has removed himself from England duty. Marler retired from international rugby in 2018 due to the stress around being involved with the national side.
He ultimately did a u-turn, returning to England duty in time for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Launchbury is replaced by Charlie Ewels in the squad and Tom West replaces Marler, although the Wasps wasn't originally included in Jones' first 'shadow squad'. Jones named a 12-player shadow squad, who will be part of the same testing protocols as the tournament squad, to act as replacements should Eddie need players in his 28-man main squad.
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Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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